My local quilt guild, the Northwoods Quilters, has been having quilt challenges. The first one was a crayon (color) challenge and this one is call the "Ugly Fabric Challenge." Anyone who wanted to participate brought to a meeting an "ugly" fat quarter. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and some of the fats were nasty ugly and some were pretty to me! We put all the fat quarters in a container and without looking we selected a fat quarter to make a small quilt, purse, hat etc. We had three months to complete this project and the reveal is at tomorrow's guild meeting! I chose 2 ugly fat quarters and in the first photo the large paisley fabric is kind of ugly! The color is a bit dull to me and the scale of the fabric is large and somewhat hard to work with especially if you are cutting it into small triangles etc. I used it as the dress fabric and then tried to downplay it with an interesting background fabric and the great hand-dyed orange velvet for the woman's hair. I "blinged" it up with some rhinestones, a leather button with some glitter nail polish and some other glitter nail polish for the woman's "make-up." I think the orange hair is now the focal point and the paisley dress is not prominent at all.

This is the second piece I did and I blogged about it in my last post. I sometimes will use a quilt twice for challenges if at all possible. The ugly fabric (the binding fabric) was not ugly to me at all. I love dotted fabric and black and lime green. I was then just making a quilt. I used this fat quarter piece in my Dresden Plate quilt for demonstrating value but it was too big for this challenge. I did this quilt for a online art quilt recycling challenge and it was really about the lames and special occasion fabrics. I love this little quilt that is 11.5" x 16.5" because it is a pop art princess and has a 1960s vibe which I love!

All of the Ugly Challenge Fabric Quilts will be in an exhibit August 26-Sept. 29 in Menominee, MI at Spies Public Library Gallery. This exhibit is free to the public during normal library hours.

I can't wait for the reveal to see how all the guild members interpreted their ugly fat quarter(s!)